Before you even start considering writing a business case, there are three important questions that any business case writing course would tell you to ask yourself. What is a business case? Why do I need a business case? And when should I use a business case? Once you are able to find the right answers for these questions, then you are definitely already on the right track and will be writing effecting business cases and getting decision makers to sway your way when you need them to.
One of the first things to know when starting with a new proposal is to first understand what the benefits of that business proposal are for the decision makers, and how to best communicate these benefits to them in a way that they will easily understand. The business case is developed in one of the early stages of a proposal and it outlines the main whys, whats, hows and whos, necessary to properly decide if taking on this proposal is worthwhile for the decision makers. The impact of this is that the person who is doing the business case writing, needs to present the facts and benefits in a way that isn’t disingenuous, but still shows that this is a proposal worth taking up.
Now, why you might need a business case is largely based on the fact that the process of preparing one requires a lot of assessment. In fact, most business case writing training programs specify that the case looks into the business problem or opportunity, the benefits, the risks, the costs involved including the appraisal of investment, likely technical solutions, the time period, the impact it would have on operations as well as the capability of the organization to deliver on the outcomes proposed. All of these are the main issues that are very important to the business case, and exploring them means that there has to be an in-depth analysis done into the proposal. This means that a sort of internal audit is done for the proposal, which would expose any likely weaknesses in it and allow for the project proposer to look into them and sort them out, before presenting the business case to the decision makers. This is just one of the ways in which training can prove useful to the professional and it is always advised that they at least research business case writing online to get a good idea on the best practices for writing effective cases.
The question of when to use a business case is one that would become clear over time and practice, especially if the professional in question has done a good business case writing certification as this is a learned skill. Many organizations would require that project management professionals be certified in business cases as they may take their proposals only in the form of cases, as it has come to be a widely-accepted format due to its simplicity and ability to deliver raw facts in a precise manner. The need for a business case is most seen when the resources or expenditure on a particular proposal needs to be justified appropriately to the decision makers. It does a great job of providing grounds for such actions and allows decision makers to look at them from a front-line view. Approval for these proposals in this format is usually sought out from the sponsor of the project or even other parties who may be interested. A good example would be the IT department being authorized funds by the finance function in a company for the undertaking of a new client side project which would require upfront costs, but would bring in heavy returns over time.
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